Just like many of the duets the two recorded while they were still husband and wife, “Golden Ring” resonated with an authentic sense of romantic tragedy that was hauntingly comparable to the real-life timbre of their tumultuous, on-again-off-again love affair. Released in May 1976, fourteen months after their real-life divorce, “Golden Ring” became the second George Jones-Tammy Wynette duet to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.
But George Jones later addressed his team up with Wynette in his 1996 memoir. He insisted, “That wasn’t my idea. In fact, I hated to work with her. It brought back too many unpleasant memories, and when some fans saw us together, they got it in their heads that we were going to get back together romantically.”
However, the two would record again at various times throughout the rest of the decade. Jones and Wynette recorded “Golden Ring” once again for Jones’s album The Bradley Barn Sessions in 1994 – an album composed of re-recordings of Jones’s material in duet form. Another recording of the song was for their final album together, One, released in 1995.